Richard Stallman's personal site.

Human Rights in the US, and in China

2002-06-03

The US government regularly criticizes human rights violations in
China, although it makes little real effort to change the situation.
Now the Chinese government has released a report detailing
human rights violations in the US. The abuses include torture of
detainees by police, sometimes resulting in death. I do not have the
resources to check the statements in the report, but they appear to be
based on published Western sources, often cited by name. If anyone
finds that part of the report is factually inaccurate, please inform
me; I will post such flaws if I find them. My presumption is that the
report is mostly accurate. (I have been told that the student shot by
the 14-year-old girl in school did not die, but that does not seem to
alter any conclusions.)

The long report raises many different issues of varying ethical
weight. For instance, it criticizes the refusal by a US court to hear
a lawsuit against the Japanese government for conscripting prostitutes
in Asia during World War II. Wrong as that conscription was, I am not
sure this US court did wrong when it held back from applying its
jurisdiction to a lawsuit against another government. Another point
criticized the Tri-State Crematorium for not cremating corpses--an act
which, although dishonest, only offended and did not actually injure
living persons. The existence of US military bases in other
countries, criticized in the report, is not wrong in itself even
though some US military interventions have been unjust. The practice
of spying on other countries, using spy planes or otherwise, is not
necessarily wrong either.

A number of points cited in the report, such as the prevalence of
violence on TV, are important social issues but not human rights
abuses. On the other hand, the report mentions major and serious
abuses as well, such as executing people who have confessed under
torture.

The report's conclusion is that the US, being guilty of human rights
abuses, should stop criticizing other countries. That conclusion
seems to rest on the view that criticism of human rights abuses is
nothing but a way of harassing another country — so that China is
really telling the US, "Hey, lay off, or I can do the same to you."
That cynical view assumes that human rights have no real importance
and no one ought to stand up for them. That cynical view is present
implicitly any time someone says, "My country is ok because some
countries are worse," or, "You can't talk; your country is guilty
too."

Chinese leaders may be cynical about human rights; it would not
surprise me if US leaders privately agree, because it would explain
why they ignore the problem at home. But cynicism is wrong, because
it allows violations to continue. All governments should be pressured
to correct their abuses of human rights; from Bolivia to Spain, from
the US to China, no government should escape. We must avoid getting
sidetracked into arguments about which country is worse, and focus on
correcting abuses anywhere and everywhere that we can.

The US government places little weight on human rights in its foreign
policy (or in its domestic policy); its priority is helping
megacorporations. We Americans should replace our leaders with people
who will make human rights a priority both at home and abroad.